Stuff it!

I really should not be reading Calvin and Hobbes - I have tons to do but for some reason, I can't seem to grow out of my comics obsession! BTW I found Chacha Chaudhary online!!! eeeekssss! <---the good - happy kind of eeeeekksss! (yes, there is a good - happy kind of eeeeekkkssss!) ... I will post Chacha Chaudhury too soon ... For the uninitiated, Chacha Chaudury is an Indian comic character ... a masterpiece and a fictional legend!

Meanwhile this C & H from 11-19-1985 must be posted and shared for all who pay me a TGIF visit:

=)

*V*

Sooo share-worthy! 

Click on the below link..  You will get a black page. Click your mouse anywhere (& everywhere) on the page & see what happens!  Better yet, click & drag your mouse over the black page.

Hope you will like it.

Smile Away =) 

Repairing

As I described my current situation to a friend who wondered – I don’t want to talk about it; I am in repair mode!  … This is part of an interaction with someone who had contacted me after almost four years to re-touch a piece I had written about, “Falling out of Love”.  This friend did a fabulous analysis of the piece back then. There was actually a reason for that write up - a very mean reason! :( ...  So you won’t believe my surprise when that interaction which had occurred about four years back, turned up in my inbox a few days back! What timing, I thought. What surprised me even more was my fear to revisit the piece. I did not want to read it. Have I become and emotional coward? This reaction was so “not me”.  

God finds a way to talk to you if you really have faith.  I always gloated about being his most fearless child … He must be frustrated with who I have become! … This renewed interaction where this friend is making me analyze all the points is perhaps just that. Making me break my boundaries and venture into those spots I have become so fearful of. Dear friend, you are reading this… thank you! I have faith that you are God-sent because only he is capable of such good timing.

Project: to resuscitate my super-adventurous soul! Stop being such a coward because - a coward dies a million deaths a day and the brave lives a million breaths a day!  I choose to live!

Reminds me of Ghalib’s “mujhey kya bura tha marna, agar ek baar hota.” 

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I have bigger worries now! 

Yesterday, I hit the "next blog" button on the toolbar on top of this page and to my surprise which transformed into shock which transformed into disbelief combined with some dismay and eventually effected my writer-ego quite a bit -- it was a blog of a man who likes to take nude pictures of self!

Why O Why have the Google Gods put my rated PG blog in the same line up as a Rated R / X Rated blog? Who have I upset with my poetry and music and an occasional "Oh Romeo" ranting?

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BTW - this Monkey is asking a very valid question: "why is there no mouse flavored cat-food?"

Sudha Malhotra's Khwaab Tha . . .

Maybe not a recognizable name today, but when Sudha Malhotra first appeared on the Hindi Film Music scene, she was considered a possible competition for the Mangeshkar sisters. Its seems that she eventually became more memorable for being involved with Sahir Ludhianvi, one of India's most respected poets and lyricist, than for her singing. As noted by Khushwant Singh,

Sudha Malhotra’s name was linked with Sahir correctly. Sahir had gone out of way to promote this upcoming singer. She ditched him. When Sahir caught a glimpse of newly married Sudha Malhotra at a party, the immortal lines “Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jayeen hum dono” flashed across his mind. 

(Link: Tortured Soul) 

I personally could never find anything unique about her voice or her delivery but one of the songs rendered by her has been in my "absolute favorites" list since the first time I heard it on a five-CD-set titled "Gazal Ka Safar". I think all Gazal lovers have this collection. I found myself playing this song on repeat for many days. For what its worth her voice quality gave this nazm that nostalgic feel that the lyrics demaded. The music is mesmerizing but the lyrics/poetry is what will remain with you ... Somewhere in the middle of the day today, I found myself wondering  --- maah tha ki saal thaa kya tha? Thank God for google!

Here is Sudha Malhotra singing this song for a BBC Special:

Khwab tha ya Khayal tha kya tha 

hijr tha ya wisal tha kya tha 

chamki bijli si par na samjhe hum 

husn tha ya jamal tha kya tha 

jis ko hum roz-e-hijr samjhe the 

mah tha wo ke sal tha kya tha 

`Mussafi` kal jo chup sa baiTha tha 

kya tujhe kuch malal tha kya tha 

aise hi!

पता नहीं कब की बात है - एक audio-recording सुनी थी ... साहिर लुधिआनवी की आवाज़ थी. किसी महफ़िल में अपनी नज़्म "कभी कभी' पढ़ रहा था वोह. यह वोह version नहीं है जो हमने यश चोपड़ा की फिल्म में सुना है. यह उस गाने का original था. Original version की voice pessimistic थी. उस version में एक never-ending longing का एहसास था. Internet पर मैंने वोह नज़्म पढ़ी भी थी . . . words तो याद नहीं - पर उसकी आवाज़ memory में store हो गयी थी.  शायरों की आवाज़ बड़ी ही different होती है. जैसे poems में जान डालने के लिए कुछ extra ढ़ाल दिया हो  भगवान् ने. शायद वोह जब शायर बना रहे होते हैं तब उसकी आवाज़ एक extra fine-tuning करते हैं. कभी वक़्त मिले तो youtube पर फैज़, कैफ़ी आज़मी, गुलज़ार की आवाज़ सुनना... मुझे आवाज़ नहीं भूलती - चेहरे और नाम भूल जाते हैं - पर आवाज़ हमेशा दिमाग में गूंजती है. कभी कभी जब साहिर लुधिआनवी के लिखे गाने सुनती हूँ तो, गाने वाले की आवाज़ साहिर की आवाज़ में metamorph हो जाती है.

एक साहिर का लिखे गाने की कुछ lines हैं जो automatically उसकी अपनी आवाज़ में मेरे mind में आती है . . . पढने से पहले ख्याल रहे, these words will ring in your head for a very long time . . . so read at your own risk!

 ख़ाक को बुत
और बुत को
देवता करता है
इश्क
इन्तेहाँ यह है की
बंदे को
खुदा करता है
इश्क . . .

The Mirrors of Perception

Dos-ing Away!

I am not kidding; I woke up dreaming of Dosaz! Really! I was at this restaurant in Haryana, where we always stop when we cross that place going back and forth between New Delhi and Punjab. The best Dosaz I have ever had. Completely authentic! In my dream, I kept on waiting and waiting and waiting and eating the nariyal cutney but the dosaz never made it & my alarm went off! Ufff!

I was craving Dosaz a few months back too - It all re-started with one of my friends posting – “craving Dosas” on his Facebook status update. So the background is that he is a Bay Area native who retired to Myrtle Beach a few years back.  In the Bay Area, obviously, finding a Dosa place is not much of a challenge. But apparently for the Myrtle Beach residents the closest Dosa place is in Charlotte – 200 miles away! He said he was almost tempted to drive 200 miles – but he has a wife to keep things in perspective! … I miss old friends who move far away!

X-tra, extra!

View from Surf City Billiards, Santa Cruz, Ca

So - about that article my friend Desh wrote about Jasleen feels like an extra in the movie of life! I read that piece several times only to realize how all our senses are really about perception; how we perceive things! For ex. something may taste too salty to me and too bland to the next person.

D. told me that these words were ringing in his head during a five-hour flight when he wrote that piece.  Well, based on that piece, he pretty much took that phrase and made it his own – his reading was more in the context of achievements – far more personal than my emotions when I said it. My context was more in terms of being an observant – like that timed-out kid on the bleachers during a base-ball game and not feeling too bad about it either. Get an occasional wave and a smile from the players but for the most part I get to watch the action from a third-person perspective!  

After reading Desh’s  piece, I got a super-sweet Facebook Wall Post from anther brilliant friend, Dr. Garrimaa Singh who upon my request for a relative poem quickly penned the following:

Kya likhein kya kahein
sochte hee reh gaye
saaree duniya aage chaldee
ham peeche hee reh gaye
ye nahi ki wo bhee khush hain
...ek uljhan kashmakash hai
aisa lagta hai sabhi ke
sapne adhoore reh gaye
dil ke arman unke bhee
banke aansu beh gaye
kya likhein kya kahein
kehne ko kuch baaki nahi hai

-Dr. Garrimaa Singh

Yeh bhi ek soch hai, ek khayal hai.

Yeh bhi perspective ka kamaal hai!

The Other Perspective!

In listening to a close friend go through a severely difficult emotional phase, I realized how one-dimensional I have been; how I have always assumed that everyone deals with hurt the way I do! He thanked me for “being there” the other day and all I wanted to do was hug him and say, you don’t  have any idea how much you have helped me.

Advise: “Put yourself in the other person’s shoes” – don’t take this phrase lightly! Really, every so often put yourself in the shoes of the person you seem to not understand. You may still not understand but at least you may find a release for your negative emotions towards that person.

Lesson: We are all entitled to our perspectives =)

Quote: 10-13-2010

What you keep to yourself, you loose, 

what you give away, you keep forever! 

~Axel Munthe

I Want To Meet Myself by Desh Kapoor

From Desh Kapoor's Blog, Drishtikone.

Jasleen, a dear friend once said in a casual conversation - in one of her rather low moments - "In the movie of life, I feel like an extra". That one simple sentence resonated with so many people on my Facebook page when I put it there, that it truly surprised me. It was not only the cry of Jasleen's heart, but mine as well, and as I learnt of many others. Some openly and publicly acknowledged it, while I am sure many more others quietly nodded in their minds. It doesn't matter how accomplished we are. It doesn't matter how great our pretense of distinctions and great work we are doing, the fact is that we always seem "less than perfect" in our own way. And when we say "perfect' its not some benchmark outside, but what we think we can do even by our own standards.

When Tansen was on his deathbed, a legend about him goes, he was asked if there was anything that he thought he could do more that he couldn't. He eagerly said, "Yes, perfect Raag Bhairavi a bit more". Tansen was the creator of this decidedly the most popular Raag in the history of Indian Classical music!

There is something in us that "knows" its capability. Whatever height or perfection we may get to. It keeps pushing on. Can we ever be happy with our selves? For us beings, who constantly live in the world of comparisons, it seems almost impossible for us to just perform at our peak and be happy about it - but that is really how it works. At the "peak of our being", probably that urge to expand and perfect satiates a bit.

Continue reading here: http://drishtikone.com/blog/i-want-meet-myself

Guncha Koi by Mohit Chauhan

From Silk Route, "Guncha Koi" by Mohit Chauhan. 

Mohit Chauhan has a quality of "quite-ness" to his delivery which gives this neo-Gazal its own identity. The lyrics are rather simple and the music is average but the singer makes this song something that I would like to share here: 

Quote: 10-10-10

While I know myself to be the creation of God, 

I am also obligated to realize and remember that 

everyone else and everything are also God's creation. 

-Maya Angelou

fall-ing into randomness

Go with the FLOW!

Lately I have been pondering over how we all deliberate too much!

In impressive stories of older generations, which I have heard or read or watched movies about, they were all so action-oriented! While we sit in front of our computer screens and read reviews and/or opinions of anything and everything, they were out their making those stories and things to be reviewed about. We are on our way to become a stagnating clan!

We have dug ourselves in a hole of “too much information” which leads to “too much thinking/deliberation” and since we are really not and will never will be “know-it-alls” we make too many “ass-u-me-tions” (sp.) and loose great opportunities life pretty much serves us in a silver-platter because we are cowards who need a review with start-ratings and dozen opinions. . . soon the babies will be asking for the ratings on their mother’s milk quality! . . . That’s going too far  . . . is it?

Well, I am not suited for this sort of an environment . . . I would rather be the one writing the reviews and give opinions . . . so I go with the flow! Take a deep breath and just enjoy this moment because this will not come back . . . and so I dared to advice a friend:

Jasleen’s Friend: So, what do I do now?

Jasleen: Just go with the flow . . . stop thinking and follow your first instinct . . .   

Jasleen’s Friend: I’m not good at flowing; more like sinking, rising, hitting a dam, white water rapids . . . Rinse, Repeat . . .

Jasleen laughed – my friend is absolutely amazing with words. Most of the people I tend to hang on to are quite eloquent.  I am blessed . . .

Happy Navratri!

. .  . & I feel truly blessed to be here – I can smell it and I think almost touch it too; the non-stop  festivities that start with Navratri. I love Navratri! The beautiful Goddess Durga pictures on Indian News Channels; dozens of different Pundits giving their own version of “how to do the Puja?” . . .the works. I usually fast during the Navratris but this year I am passing on it – lame excuses really . . . But the spirit of the festival is still with me. . .  Its time for acceptance and embracing the old for what it is and just being happy and greatful . . .

That reminds me - of a few things which I have experienced second-hand in a past few months, I want to stand on the roof tops and tell everyone to never let go of those who were there to see you through when things were so bad that you don't want to remember that time any more. If in the effort to re-start you loose those who held your hand during that phase, you will have nothing but regrets because you would have lost the biggest treasure of life! HOLD ON because that is the strongest foundation to build upon!

Mahi Ve  by Atif Aslam

So – I wonder how I missed this song from his album, “Doorie”! This Punjabi song is amazing; it is one of the best Hard-Rock numbers I have heard. Love it! Atif finally won me over! 

Check it out although the video is meh! 

kade aa maahiyaa saadey vehrey 
muk jaaney merey saarey vichorey!
 Mahiii Veyy ... 


 

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Ok I was a bit  didactic but I am quite wise . . . so I hear and I don't believe everything I hear unless it comes from sources like my friends who give me quotable quotes which I can blog about; ex. the dialogue above!

So I must include a PJ:

Mrs. Santa Singh caught her husband Santa Singh searching high and low all around his living room. 

Mrs. Santa Singh: What are you searching for?

Santa: Hidden cameras!

Mrs. Santa Singh: And what makes you think that there are hidden cameras here? Santa: That guy on TV knows exactly what I am doing. Why every few minutes he keeps saying, You are watching the Star World channel. How does he know that?

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:)

Quote: October 6, 2010

all truths wait in all things, 

they never hasten their own delivery

nor resist it. 

-walt whitman

Very Desi - A Historic Letter

Indian Railways - A Historic Letter 

A letter sent by a railway passenger to the authorities.........

A Historic Letter!!!!!!!!

"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with 'lotah' in one hand and 'dhoti' in the next, when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform.

I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.

This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers."

Okhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter to the Sahibganj Divisional Railway Office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi . It was also reproduced under the caption "Travellers' Tales" in the Far Eastern Economic Review.


Any guesses why this letter was of historic value?

It apparently led to the introduction of toilets in trains.